The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1887-01-13
PICKETT', CHARGE.
General AlcXander's Article on the Battle
of Gettysburg in Jnnunry Century.

In the January number of the Century
are articles on the third days fight at
Gettysburg, by General II. j. Bunt and
L. p. Alexander. From the latyer's nc.
count of Pickett's charge We quote as
-ollows: SAT exactly one o'clock by my
watch the two signal guns were, heard in
quick succession. In another minute
every gun was at work. The enemy was
not slow in coming back at us, and the
grand roar of nearly the whole artillery
of both armies burst i'll on the silence
almost as suddenly as the full notes of
an organ could fill n church.
The artillery Of Ewel's corps, how
ever, took only small part, I believe,
IN this, as they were too far away, around
the town. Some Of them might have
done good service from positi ons be-
tween Hill and Ewcll, cnlilading the
batteries lighting us. Thc opportunity
to do that Was the single advantage in
our having tho exterior limo to compen-
safe Tor its disadvantages. But our line
was SO far extended that all OF it was not
well studied, and tho officers Of each
corps had no opportunity to examine
each others ground for chances of CO.
operative work.
"IlIo cncmy's position seemed to have
broken out with guns everywhere, and
from lionnd Top to Cemetery ill was
blazln% Like Il volcano. The air seemed
tull OF missiles from every direction
The severity of tho fire may be illustrated
by the casualties in my own battalion
under Major Hugcr.
'b@1UIe the cannOnadc opened / had
made up my mind TO give Pickett the
order to advance within fifteen or twenty
minutes after it began. But when !
looked at the full development of the
enemy's batteries, and knew that his in-
fnntry was generally protected from our
lire by stone wallis and swells of tho
ground, could not bring myself to give
the word. 1t seemed madness to launch
infantry into that fire, with ne;uly three
quarters OF Il mile to go in the midday
July sun. | let the fifteen minutes pass,
and twenty, and Twenty-Five, hoping
vainly for something to turn up. Then
L wrote to Pickett: eff you arc coming
at all you must come at oucc, or / can
no. give YOU proper support; but the
CnCmyS fire has not Slackened nj all; at
least eighteen guns are still firing from
the cemetery ITSELF" Five minutes after
sending that message, the enemy's fire
suddenly began to slacken, and the guns
III tho cemetery limbcred up and vacated
the position.
awe Confcdcratcs often dill such
things as that to save our ammunition
Tor use against infantry, but had never
before seen the FCd2rals withdraW their
guns simply to save them lvp ior the
infantry fight. So ! said, III nc does
not run fresh batteries i'll there in five
minutes, This is our fight. I looked
anXiousSy with my glass, and the five
/ minutes passed without Il sign OF life or
! tho deserted position, still swept by oln
! fire, and Uttered with dead men and
! horses aud fragments of disabled CARR.
age. Then | wrote Pickett, urgently
For Gods sake, come quick. The
eighteen guns are gone; come quick, OF
my ammunition won't let me support
! you property
81 afterwards heard from others what
! took place with my first note to Pickett.
''Plckctt took it to Longstrcct. Long
| street read it, and said nothing. Pickett
said, General, shall J. advanco?' Long
street, knowing il had to be, but unwill-
ing to give TIE word, turned his face
away. Pickett salutcd and said, 81 am
gong to move forward, sir, gallopcd off
to his division and immediately put it in
motion.
"Longstrcet, leaving his staff. came
out alone TO where [ w;S. 1t was then
about l.lO p. M. ] explained the situa-
ton, feeling then more hopeful, but
afraid our artillery ammunition might
not hold out for all VIC would want.
Longstrcet said, Stop Pickett, immcdi-
ately, and replcnish your ammunition. ;
| explained that it would take too long,
and the enemy would recover from the
effect our fire was then having, and We
had, moreover, very little to rcplcnish
with. Longstrcet said, q don't want to
make this attack. | would stop it now
but tlat General Lee ordered it and eX-
poets 1t to go on. | don't see how it can
succeed.
81 listened but did not dare offer q
! word. The battle was lost if we stopped.
Ammunition was far too low to try any
thing else, for wo had been sighting
three days. There was chance, and it
was not my part to interfere. While
Longstrcet was still speaking, pickett's
division swept out of the wood and
| showed the full length Of its gray ranks
anu SHINING bayOnCtS, as grand Il sight
as ever man looked on. Joining it on
the left, Pettigrcw stretched farther than
| could sec. General Dick Gnrnett, lust
out OF the sick ambulance, and buttoncd
up IN an old blue ovcrcoat, riding at the
head Of his brigade, passed us and So
lutcd Longstreet. Garnett was warm
personal friend, and we had not met be-.
fore for months. We had served on the
plains together before the war. rode
with him short distance, and then We
wished each other luck and n good-byc
which was our last
"Then | rode down the line of guns,
| selecting such as lad enough ammuni-
ton to follow Pickctts advance, and
starting them as fast as possible. / got,
L think, fifteen or eighteen in a little
while, and went on with them. Mean
while, the infantry had no sooner de-
bouched on the plain than all tho
enemy's line, which had been nearly
silent, broke out again with all its bat
tcrlcs Tho eighteen guns were back in
the cemetery, and storm Of shells be-
gan bursting over and among our in
tantry. All Of our guns, silent rs the
infantry passed between them, reopcned
when the lines had got couple of hun
dred yards away, but the CnCmy's artil-